“Stories on an island travel sideways”….. something to that effect. 💚

Perfect description of this intimately detailed portrait of a doctor, his daughter, and their village during the Christmas season of 1962. Something unexpectedly upends the doctor‘s guarded privacy and equilibrium.

Simply gorgeous prose with quotable gems every page. I enjoyed This is Happiness, but I loved this one.

Embarking on the next chunkster. 😄

I‘m so glad the de Waals family allowed her novels to be published posthumously. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and circumstance of this one, which were unique enough to keep me engaged. It also went off in surprising directions! Makes me wonder whether this could have been published in the 1950‘s. 🤔 #PersephoneClub

Lately I‘ve not had much luck book shopping, but today I scored. 😃 The two novels were on my TBR and I wasn‘t looking for them - pure happenstance.

Milk Street is always up my alley.

This monument to Aboriginal sovereignty is going to take hot minute to digest. Wright did an excellent job making time amorphous & porous, such that the characters live simultaneously in the past, present, and even the future. (Homage to oldest extant culture.)There are a multitude of ways to interpret all of the themes, symbolism, etc. such that my head is spinning. 😵‍💫

Perfect outdoor reading time. ☺️ Definitely enjoying the #PersephoneClub pick. Elizabeth has made all of the characters interesting. I want to know more!

Sometimes you just need a donkey to remind you to kick up your heels & embrace life. 🫏

Short & sweet without being saccharine.

Best line, “His head was full of a musical buzz, and although his Muse had chosen to inhabit an odd and inappropriate person, Andy Lightfoot was happy because he was writing poems and that was what he was meant to do.”

Definitely going on the to-buy list! Gorgeous book with accessible recipes for bean lovers. It‘s also another reason to order beans from Rancho Gordo.

I loved how Campbell describes at first he was concerned teaching comparative mythology would taint or destroy his students‘ religious beliefs. However, it had the opposite effect, rather it deepened the meaning of the principles & values in their lives.

I enjoyed the comparisons between mythologies to reveal universal commonalities. Certainly they seem to reflect the human psyche, regardless whether one believes in cosmic force(s).

I‘m in trouble if Walt Whitman is indeed the best American writer. 😅

IRL bookclub picked Leaves of Grass for the next selection and I‘m not relating to his writing AT ALL. I‘m just not that smart. 😏

For contrast we‘re also reading some Emily Dickinson. 😁

😊 Back to outdoor reading, at last!

And finally getting to this novella.

Hmmmmm 🤔 It started out well and then got a bit ridiculous on the believability scale the longer it went on. Also, every single character was messed up because of mother issues = overdone. Then it just ended and the aftermath was what would have been interesting.

Definitely page turning! In this case, audio pages. 😉

Amazed at how safe the AT historically has been re: crime given how isolated it is in some segments.

Well, for a Canadian Matty can write a delicious gumbo recipe!

Can I get this read for my other bookclub by Friday? Probably not the way I‘d like to read it, but you do what you can when it‘s crunch time!

Ghostbusting! 👻 Wish I would have discovered this in October. Lots of interesting historical background on the supernatural craze of late 19th to mid 20th centuries.

I recall my grandmother saying at one time her family members went to some type of fortune teller/seer, which would have been within that period. Can‘t remember why, but in my mind it‘s connected to something about money hidden within the walls of the house.

Ready for book club tomorrow! It‘s a funny group, so I‘m looking forward to their takes on Dante & the filth, stench, and all around beastliness of his hellish creation.

I‘m glad I read it. Did I enjoy it? Parts were creative and engaging, others read like a contemporary political revenge rag for which I have no context. Very thankful to Ciardi & his notes.

It‘s a bit like a collection of short stories, some Cantos are a hit and others a miss.

This was meant to be for me on Mother‘s Day! First, I celebrate loving two great kids and second I celebrate the extraordinary gift of motherhood their biological mothers made to me. 💕

When I walked into the cookbook section this book was on the display at eye level. 😍.

Fantastic recipes, some are for dishes and flavor combos not included in my other Ethiopian cookbooks. Anxious to try them. I wish could get to her cafe in Harlem!

You very lucky Australians! I wish I had access to Katy and her shop in real life. She could sell the leg off a table - she‘s that good of a reviewer. I always want to purchase and read every book she presents.

Link to YouTube channel and most recent reviews: https://youtu.be/AEJrcbVBrrY?si=RCCrLzaeIwZrV4IY

I‘m late to the Matheson party, but better late than never! This is not just a book to look at and be inspired to cook from, it‘s a book to read. His authenticity is a hoot and refreshing. The essays preceding each section and the descriptions of each recipe are great fun. Clearly he is a down to earth chefy chef; his world contains multitudes of food styles & tastes.

“God f*cking” bless grilled cheese sandwiches.”

I didn‘t know about the Jeju massacre until listening to this novel. Beautiful, haunting writing that I think would have been even better in print. That way I could have reread passages and spent more time thinking about them. I will have to get a copy for my shelves.

P.S. I think I was “meh” on The Vegetarian. 😏

How did I miss this film about Thomas Wolfe & his editor Max Perkins? I ran across the film today and binge watched the whole thing while on the elliptical. Gorgeous cinematography and acting - highly recommend.

Whole thing is here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9AowPEE-7hY?si=Llhdawj2cxKCQUyM

My new chunkster adventure! With the dreamscape & magical realism elements, the wine is a necessary reading aid. 😅

A book nerd thing only you all will appreciate.

I was staring at this box set in the “library/TV” room where my daughter was sitting and I was telling her I wished she‘d read them. (No chance.) I pulled the tagged book out, opened it up and BAM ☄️ I was rushed headlong back in time by the very unique scent of the paper in these editions. I could live inside them.

Happy sweet memories. 🥰

With some distance now I have an even greater appreciation for this behemoth. With so many themes I can‘t even begin to relay them all here. But one I especially appreciated was that of the invisible & everlasting connections between people, places, events, ideas, beliefs, etc. They are the “sparks” Olga gathers in this book.

The Prologue & final scene doubles down on this theme in a most delightful way I can‘t spoil!

This book is very well researched on England‘s new divorce law, court, and the people orbiting in & around it. Other reviewers have noted Mrs. Robinson serves as a model trope for victims of patriarchy and sexism. So absurd now that everything sexual was the result of a defect or disease of some sort. “Womb complaint”

IMO the degree of detail about extraneous individuals was a distraction from the Robinsons‘ story.

Just because I can‘t stand the dull a moment longer! I don‘t care if I have to bring it in at night like a baby. First pot of the season. 😊

The JP Morgan library celebrating 100 years and giving due credit to Belle. 😄 Gorgeous collection - hope to see it someday.

https://youtu.be/2hMrbtZQWxo?si=Cg8tVcodd_aRCnA9

Policy of preventative deterrence = death by Sonoran desert.

Funneling migrants through the desert is intentional and cruel. Common sense suggests until the root causes of the migration are addressed it will not end. When migrants say they would rather die on the trail than remain in their home countries it speaks volumes.

Jason‘s second book focusing on human smugglers is even better because it really lays bare the complexities of the issue.

If I wrote something with this premise it would be chalked up to a morbid imagination.🥹 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwvl93ywlpo?utm_campaign=YouTube+April+1&utm_...

I need this mug.

Got myself a western spoof! 🤠👏🏾 Everette is such a fantastic satirist that I‘m looking forward to it when I get there.

Another #PersephoneClub pick gobbled up! This one is rather melancholy, but the characters are so well drawn I felt like a fly on the wall to the family gossip. None of them are perfect or cardboard cutouts, which made them relatable. Belle was a real piece of work!

At the end, knowing the war was inevitable, left me feeling sad for them.

Oh, the delicious melodrama! (Insert fainting couch here.) I loved every minute of it! ❤️

It would make a stunning, visually beautiful film.

#PersephoneClub

“Try not to think.” 🤣🤣🤣

#PersephoneClub

Next IRL book club pick 🔥😈

We have three translations in the house, but I‘m going with Pinsky since he‘s a poet. 🤞🏾

IRL bookclub pick. The ocean IS a brilliant abyss! However, the structure of the book didn‘t work and as a result I won‘t remember much, except for the crabs that eat slimy strings of bacteria, bone eating worms, and the polychaete female who houses dwarf males in her body.

Any reader of this book won‘t need the conservation & preservation message.

Cranberry orange soda bread 😋 from the tagged book. Super easy, but don‘t expect it to be dessert sweet. My kids will wonder where the sugar is, same with scones. 🙃

Stab in the heart to see photos like this……I fell down a rabbit hole.

“The Court itself was old, and many gabled and mellow-red and fine. Rosalie had learned from no precedent as yet, but houses of its kind may represent the apotheosis of discomfort and dilapidation within, and only become more beautiful without.”

Oh Rosalie, I fear you are in for a rude awakening. 🥹

#PersephoneClub

A story that epitomizes complicated parent/child relationships. The illustrations made this graphic memoir work for me, otherwise it would have been just okay. (Not a huge fan of memoir.)

Throughout I really wanted the perspectives of the other family members to compare it with Alison‘s. Alas, that‘s not going to happen. 😏

I just saw in the blurb this is favorably compared to Keegan & Donoghue? That‘s marketing for you. 😑

The writing is accessible & the characters are believable to the point you want to shake the MC. However the kids were an annoying distraction in audio version. Toddler voices, unless they are real, aren‘t cute.

It‘s not a deep read and doesn‘t have penetrating or lyrical prose. Satisfactory for entertainment purposes. I‘d give it 3⭐️

Memoirs are a hard sell for me, but this one worked because the focus here is on hares. Beautiful nature writing!

But, is it prize worthy? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Were all the flags and annotations necessary? Yes! Was it worth the 10 weeks of effort. Absolutely yes!

Can I even begin to coherently articulate why yet? No!

This is one of those books I will have to sit with to settle the swirling thoughts.

5 ⭐️ for the content and engaging style.

Very valuable in helping to understand the mechanisms of migration in Latin America. Jason spent 6 years among and studying the culture of human smugglers.

The word “hope” in the subtitle is misleading. It‘s not hope for the crisis ending, it‘s the hope both migrants and many smugglers have of escaping desperate poverty & violence.

Now downloading his first book which is focused on migrants.

I was tempted, except nobody but me would see them under my pant legs. 😜

34% in and I can tell this is going to be a very memorable and informative book.

Violence is the handmaiden of poverty.

🫣 What wild satirical ride on the Victorian Horror Bus! Imagine the Bronte sisters unleashed & unhinged.

Loved it as a spoof! 😳